DeCarlo Rules: It's crazy that ACP hasn't reprinted those 2 issues as a double-size one-shot. Or the lead story in a TP collection of vampire stories (including "Twilite" and others).November 04, 2018, 03:21:35 am

irishmoxie: That's crazy about those Betty and Veronica issues being worth so much. They're only about 6 years old. I'm pretty sure I have copies of them.November 04, 2018, 01:36:00 am

DeCarlo Rules: On a relatated note, the real FIRST Vampironica appeared in Larry Welz' underground comic Cherry Poptart #1[link]. That can be had right now, CGCed at 9.4, at the Buy-It-Now price of $280 on ebay. Although the book had several subsequent printings, only the first printing ($2 cover price) contains the Vampironica story. Much, much scarcer than B&V #261 & 262, but then far fewer people seem to be aware of its existence. It may not be the same Vampironica as the one that appears in her own comic book from ACP, but then you can easily make the argument that neither is the Vampironica from B&V 261-262.November 04, 2018, 01:15:09 am

DeCarlo Rules: Yes, I mentioned this a while back somewhere around the time Vampironica #1 was first solicted or shipped. I even mentioned it to Dan Parent and told him if he still had copies he should get them CGC'ed.November 03, 2018, 04:33:03 pm

rusty: Apparently Betty and Veronica #261 and 262 (1987 series) are popular now due to Vampironica. Somebody actually purchased a copy of #261 for $299 on ebay recently.November 03, 2018, 01:41:51 pm

archiecomicscollector: I've been watching Chilling Adventures of Sabrina on Netflix...so no Riverdale means more time in Greendale November 01, 2018, 10:17:35 pm

One Punch Man is a series that I've heard mentioned a lot and will probably try out eventually. What do you think of it?

I love Battle Angel Alita. I first collected it in regular comics and continued as they switched to the volume format. I wasn't going to get the deluxe editions, but when I saw how nice they were, I went ahead and bought them even though I have the earlier editions. I'm behind on reading Mars Chronicle, but will get to those eventually.

I somehow completely missed out on Battle Angel Alita the first time around. I mean, I was aware that it existed, because I'd seen it around here and there, but for whatever reason, I'd just never picked it up and given it a try. Now after I'd read the first couple of hardcover volumes, I liked it so much that I went and ordered all five omnibus editions of Battle Angel Alita: The Last Order, and have been getting the Mars Chronicle tankobon volumes as they've come out. I've held off on reading the latter two series for reasons of not wanting any spoilers revealed until I've read the last volume of the hardcover collection of the original series. Kodansha will also be releasing a standalone Battle Angel Alita: Homecoming volume in hardcover that collects some shorter, self-contained stories set during the same time frame as the original series (there's a Halloween Comic Fest giveaway comic scheduled to preview that).

The spoiler thing kind of bugs me, because Seven Seas Entertainment completely spoiled the original Devilman for me by releasing two later series in translation earlier, Devilman G (which is a modern retelling with some differences) and Devilman vs Hades (a fairly recent sequel to the original Devilman which also crosses over with characters from Mazinger Z). Since I'd just been reading those as they came out in overlapped releases, the first volume of Devilman vs Hades completely ruins a couple of major plot reveals from the ending of Devilman: The Classic Collection (the second volume of which hasn't come out yet in translation from Seven Seas).

ONE-PUNCH MAN is just amazing! I mean, on the surface it just seems like a bunch of fights and hyperviolence, but it's got humor and even some deeper commentary on what it means to be a hero. Saitama is the one-punch man of the title. He's a short, bald-headed guy whose slightly-built physique and blank expression leads everyone to overlook him and underestimate him, but somehow Saitama possesses the power to defeat any opponent with a single punch. It's mostly over so quickly that any witnesses don't even realize what happened or how. So what Saitama really wants to do is be a hero for fun, helping people while he seeks an adversary that can give him a challenge and won't be defeated so easily. To do this, he joins up with the Heroes Association, a kind of national infrastructure for superheroes, to facilitate dispatching heroes to the scene of emergencies. Since his power isn't really measured easily, and is over with in the time it takes for him to deliver a single punch, people tend not to believe what they've seen (or are distracted by something else, not realizing what exactly happened); Saitama starts out as a lowly-rated Class C hero. Genos, a teenage cyborg hero who is rated as Class S (that's above Class A, by the way) is one of the few that sees Saitama in action and believes. Since Genos is an earnest young hero he immediately begs Saitama to become his sensei and train him. We are also introduced to many other heroes in the ranks of the Heroes Association. Some are not really heroes at all, but are out for their own personal celebrity or glory, or are just feeding their own inflated egos every time they defeat an opponent in combat. Monsters are also rated by their threat levels - Threat Level Dragon is more dangerous than Threat Level Tiger. It later turns out that there is also a Monsters Association to support the monsters, and things really get interesting.

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